I have had several of you ask why I am not on the FM satellites. I actually have been on FM.
I was recently on AO51 when it was in VU mode. I was on Oahu at the time and I had blockage from the local mountains and hotels on several passes. Even being on the 33rd floor did not helps matters but I was able to work a few people. Many contacts were made in FM mode.
AO27 and SO50 schedules simply conflict with my vacation plans on Kauai, sorry. There are several Hams on KH6 who are on almost every weekend and will be happy to work you on those satellites.
There is only one operator on Oahu able to work the linear satellites. He can only work down to 30 elevation. At my QTH here in Kapaa, HI I can see the ocean from our deck and I can work the low passes very well that is why I am concentrating on SSB as this makes the most sense due to the limited time I am here on the islands.
There are some good morning (HI) passes that I will be able to make and I expect some fairly busy passes over the next four days. Please make an effort to show up based on my posts to the AMSAT BB. Again this evening I worked a pass up Western US Coast into VE and Alaska. I called CQ the entire FO29 pass with no takers.
I recently messed up an HO-68 FM pass I heard many stations calling me but my transmit locked up. I finally figured out my SatPC had locked up and this messed up the transmit. A major opportunity was lost. Blame it on the technical gremlins. Sorry.
I hope to be on the HO68 FM pass on 4/3/2010 at 18:55 UTC subject to better weather. We are having strong wind gusts up to 50 mph, the next few days. Keeping the radios and Antennas intact are top priority. If I am not on the satellite based on the provided schedule it will mostly be due to the wind.
Thanks for listening to my rant. I have appreciated all the kind notes for sked requests (many have been successfully completed) and encouraging emails but I have also been frustrated to be the only station on numerous passes with a good footprint to Hawaii. Even stations with fixed elevation antennas should be able to work the SSB sats Let's get some activity going.
I hope this adventure encourages others coming to HI in the future to try a DXpedition from the 50th state to help those that could not make a contact with me this time around to get them HI in their logs. The gear all easily fits in a travel bag!
Aloha, Adrian AA5UK/KH6
________________________________
From: Adrian Engele <aa5uk at yahoo.com>
To: AMSAT-BB at amsat.org
Sent: Tue, March 30, 2010 8:26:57 PM
Subject: [amsat-bb] AA5UK/KH6 Schedule for 3/31/2010
Here are the plans for 3/31/2010:
AO-7 15:51 UTC I have a sked at the start of the pass that will last 2 mn after that I will be around 145.960 to .965 SSB only.
FO-29: 16:13 UTC
FO-29: 17:58 UTC looking for JA's
VU-52: 18:31 UTC
4/1/2010:
FO-29: 03:34 UTC
FO-29: 05:16 UTC AOS to TCA only due to house blockage
VU-52: 06:50 UTC
On most passes look for me middle of the band.
Aloha!
73, AA5UK/KH6 BL02ic
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